After kicking a major uproar over his poverty estimates, some sense has dawned on the Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia Monday as he admitted that the method of tabulating the number of the poor is "abstract" and said it is being reworked. His statement assumes significance as the new poverty figures have led to a major uproar even within the government, Congress and got slammed by all political parties, including the UPA constituent NCP. However, he sought to distance himself from the controversial data released last week according to which poverty figures declined to 21.9 percent in FY12 from 37.2 percent in Fy05, saying the figures were based on the assessment of an expert committee headed economist Suresh Tendulkar.
The current figures are based on the methodology suggested by a committee headed by the renowned economist Tendulkar which factors in spent on health and education besides calorie intake, he said."The Tendulkar methodology numbers show about 22 percent as poor. I am perfectly willing to agree that the poverty line is a bit low," he told reporters in the Capital. About the questions raised over these figures, even within the Congress, Ahluwalia said, "Kapil Sibal has said the present system is abstract and even we should improve it. Even we agree to that."He said the new methodology being worked upon will be based on the Rangarajan committee which is expected to submit its report by middle of next.
The commission used the Tendulkar methodology, which factors in spending on health and education besides calorie intake to arrive at a poverty line for cities and villages. Accordingly, the people whose daily consumption of goods and services exceed Rs 33.33 in cities and Rs 27.33 in villages are not poor. Ahluwalia said, "this is not the Planning Commission's (poverty) line. Poverty line is not drawn by the Planning Commission. It is actually drawn by an expert group. The line you are talking about is a line recommended by the Suresh Tendulkar expert committee." The criteria for gauging poverty figures was rubbished, not only by opposition parties, but also by some Congress leaders like Kapil Sibal and Digvijay Singh. Singh said the existing method was too abstract and can't be the same for all areas. He felt that the criteria should be malnourishment in members of family.
He made a strong pitch for linking poverty with malnutrition and anemia. His remarks came after Sibal challenged the method used by the Planning Commission to calculate poverty saying a family of five cannot live on Rs 5,000 a month."If the Planning Commission said those who live above Rs 5,000 a month are not at poverty line, obviously there is something wrong with the definition of poverty in this country. How can anybody live at Rs 5,000?" he had said in Kolkata.
